American Soccer/European Football

[K.Snyder]

I have a question for the Premierships...How many teams are able to go on to the playoffs(that is if that's what you guys call it - I'm quite sure you guys have some sort of system leading up to the championship game)?

[ShawnG]

Originally Posted by K.Snyder

I have a question for the Premierships...How many teams are able to go on to the playoffs(that is if that's what you guys call it - I'm quite sure you guys have some sort of system leading up to the championship game)?

The English sports system is completely different than the one we have here, K. Their league championship is decided by each team playing each other team twice- no playoffs, the team with the highest number of points wins. (1-draw 3=win) They also run a couple of cups at the same time as the season usually at midweek, or off weekends, so teams all participate in the FA cup and the League cup with all english teams (think Major league baseball, and all of the minor league teams combined, playing in a single elimination tournament) all of these competitions occur at the same time. In addition the top clubs in the premiership and the winners of the cups qualify for the two European Cups where they would play in a tournament throughout the season with other top clubs around europe. If that isn't enough, there often are exhibition matches during the season!

The coolest thing though is the promotion and relegation, if you are in the premiership, and you suck, you get dropped down to a lower league for the next season. in turn the top three teams in the lower division get promoted. this always gives you something to play for, unlike in american sports where the lower teams pack it in at a certain point, here you have to keep fighting, or you won't be in the league next season! (think about the New York Yankees having to play in AAA next year if they suck) It can be confusing coming from north america, but this system is really cool in practice.

[K.Snyder]

Originally Posted by ShawnG

It can be confusing coming from north america, but this system is really cool in practice.

It sounds reasonable with the abundance of teams they have there...So then what you're saying is that there is no playoffs allowing for the top seeded teams to compete for the championship once they have proven they are in the top percentage of the league, and that the system can be comparable to that of the college football system we have here?

Actually it sounds exactly like the college system we have here, the only difference being, the premiership teams won't be forced to rebuild their teams upon a numerous amount of people leaving for the pros.

Originally Posted by K.Snyder

I was wandering what you guys thought about Beckham, going to the MLS...

Obviously it would be hard for anyone to pass up $250 Million dollars in just a five year contract...He will be making $50 Million dollars a year...

a doller a second

[ShawnG]

Originally Posted by K.Snyder

It sounds reasonable with the abundance of teams they have there...So then what you're saying is that there is no playoffs allowing for the top seeded teams to compete for the championship once they have proven they are in the top percentage of the league, and that the system can be comparable to that of the college football system we have here?

Actually it sounds exactly like the college system we have here, the only difference being, the premiership teams won't be forced to rebuild their teams upon a numerous amount of people leaving for the pros.

Not really, there is always a league champion, It's the team with the best regular season record. there is also the FA cup Winner, The League cup winner, the European Champions league winner, and the Eufa cup winner. The aim for teams like Chelsea, Arsenal ManU etc. is to win multiple titles in the same season. So you will hear them talk about "winning the double" or the "treble" for a number of titles & cups in that particular year. They just don't "reshuffle the deck" for the league championship, the way we do it here. It's actually more like Rec league Softball than anything else they are clubs who try to win multiple competitions all happening at roughly the same time, it's more informal than the rigid league structure we have.

[K.Snyder]

Originally Posted by ShawnG

they are clubs who try to win multiple competitions all happening at roughly the same time, it's more informal than the rigid league structure we have.

Well, if alot of them hate the teams that win all of the time as much as I hate the Yankees I can definitely understand why...

[Galbally]

OK, I think that shawn has described it pretty well. You have the Football league, divided into 4 divisions, with the top being the Premiership, then the 1st division, then the 2nd division, and the 3rd, each having roughly 20-25 teams in each league. The season goes from ausgust to may, and the team from each league that collects the most points wins the league, simple as, its a points race.

The top 4 teams in the Premiership are then allowed to play in the European Champions League, which is a league of all the best teams in Europe (but you have to be at the top of your home league to qualify). This is the real action, and includes all the best European teams, if you win this, you are at the top of the heap for that year. Its played concurrently with the rest of the football, but on weeknights, not the weekend. The bottom 3 teams from each domestic english league are relegated to the next league lower down, its the equivalent of football death. The team at the bottom of division 3 are relegated from the leagues all together and have to go into the little silly leagues, and 3 come up, so you always have a chance for glory or abject failure.

Then at the same time there is the FA Cup which involves all of the teams from the 4 leagues playing each other in a knock out competition. (for example Chelsea drew 1-1 the other day with Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup, even though they play in different divsions). Then there is also the League Cup, which is like the FA cup, but less important for some reason. The winners of each tournament go on to play in the European Cup winners Cup, which is again, a knockout competition for those who have won domestic tournaments. This may all sound a bit complex, but in reality its very easy to follow, and its exciting as well as nail biting as your team can get relegated, and everyone knows that relelgation is the worst thing that can ever happen.

A lot of the posters here from britain are big soccer heads as most men are, and plenty of girls as well. For example.

Galbally-Aston Villa
Uncle Kram-Aston Villa
Arnoldlayne-Chelsea
Abbey-Man Utd
Hamster-Leeds United
Diretic-Arsenal (he is an aussie, but people from all over the world support premier league teams)

The worlds biggest current teams are Man Utd, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Axaj, PSV, Benfica, and quite a few others that are massive clubs but don't quite have the pedigree of these teams, or do but not the current sucess and fans. These teams have fans in every part of the world, eg, the most Famous Englishman in the world by far is not Tony Blair but David Beckham, and now its Wayne Rooney (who is not quite so photogenic) is the new superstar along with people like Ronaldinio, Zidane, Raul, etc etc.) These people are famous everywhere in the world from Bagdad to Bejing and back to London, its pretty mental when you think about it.

[K.Snyder]

Originally Posted by Galbally

OK, I think that shawn has described it pretty well. You have the Football league, divided into 4 divisions, with the top being the Premiership, then the 1st division, then the 2nd division, and the 3rd, each having roughly 20-25 teams in each league. The season goes from ausgust to may, and the team from each league that collects the most points wins the league, simple as, its a points race.

The top 4 teams in the Premiership are then allowed to play in the European Champions League, which is a league of all the best teams in Europe (but you have to be at the top of your home league to qualify). This is the real action, and includes all the best European teams, if you win this, you are at the top of the heap for that year. Its played concurrently with the rest of the football, but on weeknights, not the weekend. The bottom 3 teams from each domestic english league are relegated to the next league lower down, its the equivalent of football death. The team at the bottom of division 3 are relegated from the leagues all together and have to go into the little silly leagues, and 3 come up, so you always have a chance for glory or abject failure.

Then at the same time there is the FA Cup which involves all of the teams from the 4 leagues playing each other in a knock out competition. (for example Chelsea drew 1-1 the other day with Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup, even though they play in different divsions). Then there is also the League Cup, which is like the FA cup, but less important for some reason. The winners of each tournament go on to play in the European Cup winners Cup, which is again, a knockout competition for those who have won domestic tournaments. This may all sound a bit complex, but in reality its very easy to follow, and its exciting as well as nail biting as your team can get relegated, and everyone knows that relelgation is the worst thing that can ever happen.

Ok, I think I can understand that...

but my next question is, what happens to the players of the teams that happen to get relegated?

What if there is a really good player on that team and doesn't want to have to climb back through the ladder with that team?...Or is that just something that those players keep an eye out for in their contracts and try and limit an excessive amount of years? Also, I suppose any team has the right to sign that player then right?

[K.Snyder]

Originally Posted by K.Snyder

Well, if alot of them hate the teams that win all of the time as much as I hate the Yankees I can definitely understand why...

I just realized that some of you may not know who the "Yankees" are, and might think I'm referring to the yankees as in Americans and that's not the case...

The Yankees are an MLB baseball team over here that can always be counted on as being a contender in the league championship...sort of like Chelsea is to the Premierships...

I can't stand them because they win all of the time...

[ShawnG]

Originally Posted by K.Snyder

Ok, I think I can understand that...

but my next question is, what happens to the players of the teams that happen to get relegated?

What if there is a really good player on that team and doesn't want to have to climb back through the ladder with that team?...Or is that just something that those players keep an eye out for in their contracts and try and limit an excessive amount of years? Also, I suppose any team has the right to sign that player then right?

A lot of the best players have "relegation clauses" in thier contracts, So if a team gets dropped, then he gets released, or they have to sell him (another difference, way too complicated to get into, basically players are bought and sold by teams rather than traded)